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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25053436">Be Okay</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/poutyhuang/pseuds/poutyhuang'>poutyhuang</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>NCT (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, But it's summer, Confessions, Dorm Life - Freeform, Friends to Lovers, Lee Jeno &amp; Na Jaemin Are Best Friends, M/M, Park Jisung &amp; Zhong Chen Le Are Best Friends, chenji are just in love, chenji are soulmates but it's not a soulmate au they just call each other soulmates, for nomin, no renmark bc i suck and forgot abt them, the word fuck is said like twice oops</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:49:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25053436</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/poutyhuang/pseuds/poutyhuang</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jisung is worrying about his future but the combination of watching his older friends stumble their way through the beginning of college and having his best friend there to reassure him is enough to quell his fears. Plus, perhaps he realizes a thing or two along the way</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Be Okay</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jisung has been feeling lost lately. He has no idea what he wants to do with his life, and that’s proving to be quite the problem given the fact that he’s going into his senior year of high school. Now should be the time for college preparations; writing essays for scholarships, narrowing down his options to one or two schools, visiting campuses, making sure the classes he’s taking next year won’t tank his GPA. Yeah, let’s just say he doesn’t have any of the things on that list checked off. He’s so stressed for the upcoming school year because he decided it would be a great idea to take a bunch of hard classes in his senior year. Peak stupidity. He can almost hear Donghyuck laughing obnoxiously at his misfortune. </p><p>That’s another thing, most of Jisung’s friends graduated last year, meaning his only friend next year will be Chenle. Whether that’s a blessing or a curse, Jisung doesn’t know. You see, Jisung has been harboring a crush on this boy ever since the beginning of sophomore year, not that it matters at this point. They’re both going to be going their separate ways after graduation, so what was the point of starting a relationship if his feelings were requited? Jisung had an itching feeling they weren’t anyway. </p><p>With all these thoughts swimming around his head, he almost missed the sound of Lara Anderson’s ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ suddenly pouring out of the ringer of his phone. Jaemin had dared him to change Chenle’s ringtone to that song in a mild game of truth or dare last winter and he never got around to changing it back (read: he kind of didn’t want to change it). </p><p>He rolled over the side of his bed to pick up his phone from the dresser, accepting the call.</p><p>“Hey, Jisung! Just calling to make sure you’re not wallowing in self pity since Jeno hyung left to get settled in his dorm yesterday.” Chenle’s sugar sweet voice came through the phone, almost instantly calming Jisung’s nerves. Man, Jisung hates being whipped. To be honest, it still hadn’t sunk in that Jeno was gone yet. It had felt so surreal when Jeno hugged him goodbye, promising to visit again before his semester officially started. </p><p>“I’m fine. Just worried about other stuff, but I really don’t want to think about it right now. Do you want to come over and do something?” Jisung responded, desperately wanting to take his mind off of things.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve got nothing better to do anyway. Summer is so boring after the first two weeks. Not that I’d want to go back to school, that’s gross. It’s just weird not having anything to do all day.” Chenle rambled as shuffling could be heard. Jisung heard the jingle of Chenle’s keys and knew he was walking out the door when Chenle covered the receiver and shouted a goodbye to his parents. Once Jisung was sure Chenle was situated in his car he spoke again. </p><p>“You really shouldn’t be driving with me on the phone.” He said, worrying his bottom lip in between his teeth. </p><p>“Oh, stop being such a worry wart. I have you on speaker anyway.” Chenle said.</p><p>“Still, I’m a distraction.” Jisung said, pout evident in his voice. </p><p>“You sure are.” Chenle crooned teasingly. </p><p>Jisung couldn’t help but flush even though Chenle constantly made semi-flirtatious remarks directed at him on the daily. </p><p>“Chenle.” Jisung whined. </p><p>“What?” Chenle said with a giggle. </p><p>“Just text me when you get here, I’m hanging up now.” Jisung said, dramatically throwing an arm over his face. </p><p>“No, don’t hang up on me!” Chenle wailed. </p><p>“Pay attention to the road, dummy!” Jisung shouted before ending the call. </p><p>He kind of felt bad for ending the call so abruptly but he was not about to be the reason why Chenle got into a car crash. </p><p>While he waited for Chenle to arrive, he opened snapchat to see that Jaemin had about 20 new stories posted. Jisung rolled his eyes and clicked on Jaemin’s icon to see the drab layout of Jeno’s freshman dorm room with a location linked at the bottom. </p><p>Clicking to the next one, Jaemin’s face popped up next to one he didn’t recognize. ‘Yoooo Jeno’s new roommate is kinda tight’ the caption read, with Jeno’s roommate’s snapchat @ linked. Jisung added him, barely sparing a glance at his name. He knew Jaemin was worried for his best friend, opting to go with him on moving day to make sure he settled in well. He smiled softly, he was really going to miss Jaemin. </p><p>The next reel was a picture of Jeno and his new roommate sitting in a sea of unopened boxes, contents strewn out across the floor of the small dorm. ‘What a mess 😂😂’ the caption read. </p><p>The next few were Jeno organizing his clothes in his closet, Jisung skipped through those until he got to one where Jaemin was holding a screwdriver with an exasperated Jeno in the background struggling to open an ikea box. ‘It’s go time boys’ was splayed across the bottom of the pictures in rainbow letters. Jisung rolled his eyes, swiping up. ‘that’s kinda gay’ he typed out before returning to perusing through Jaemin’s story. </p><p>The next story was a video that was blurry as hell but Jisung was 90% sure a furious Jeno was threatening to hit Jaemin with a hammer as Jaemin cackled in the background. </p><p>The next picture was of the floor of the dorm’s communal bathroom, Jisung assumes. ‘Safe for now…’ the caption read. </p><p>The next was another video of Jaemin running down the hall, the camera flicking from being pointed at Jeno, who was running after him, and the carpeted floor of the dorm hallway. The caption ‘FUCK HE FOUND MEEE’ was the only thing you could actually see, since Jaemin was constantly moving.</p><p>The next picture was a selfie of Jeno, with a pouting Jaemin in the background working on the ikea dresser. ‘Free labor 🔥’ the caption in the middle of the picture said. </p><p>After that there was a picture of Jeno walking god knows where with the caption ‘i swear i’m a good friend’. Jisung screenshotted the image and went to his messages with Jeno, ‘you stole his phone how is that being a good friend 🙄’ </p><p>Going back to the snapchat messages page he realised he had a new message from Jaemin ‘uh yeah that’s kinda the whole point’ Jisung blinked. And then he blinked again. ‘BITHC HWHAT’ he typed out, watching as Jaemin’s bitmoji popped up at the bottom of his screen. ‘i’m gay, jeno’s gay, making furniture with the homie is gay so i made the caption gay’ Jaemin’s message read. ‘Just date already 🙄’ Jisung responded. Going back to his snapchat camera, he took a picture of himself looking off to the side broodingly. ‘so sick of these homosexuals 😒’ he typed out before posting the story. Going back to his chat with Jaemin, he looked Jaemin’s indignant reply saying something about how him and Jeno are ‘just best friends who are gay together not for each other’ before answering with a disbeleving ‘yeah ok’.</p><p>Jisung returned to Jaemin’s story to see a selfie of Jaemin in the dorm with a cup of boba and the caption ‘He bought me boba 🥺🥺🥺’. Sliding up once again Jisung typed out a ‘whipped’ before continuing on. </p><p>The next image is of Jaemin’s pinky, which was swollen, with the caption ‘men aren’t shit’ followed by an image of a sheepish looking Jeno. The next installation was Jeno’s apology video. “Hello to the people on Jaemin’s story that have dealt with his bullshit long enough to make it this far to see the damage I have accidentally inflicted on my poor best friend,” Jaemin could be heard squawking out a ‘hey!’ in the background. “Anyway, I would like to sincerely apologize to Jaemin for dropping a hammer on his pinky completely on accident.’ Jeno continued with puppy eyes. “Jeno, shut the fuck up that was not an accident you literally threatened to do so earlier today, I have you on tape.” Jaemin said, behind the camera. With that, Jeno glanced up at the camera before lunging towards Jaemin and tickling him. “Jeno, stop!” Jaemin shrieked in between his giggling. “This is a hate crime on gays!” “I’m literally gay Jaemin shut up!” Jeno replied, unrelenting in his attack on Jaemin’s sides. Jeno’s roommate could be seen to the side before the video cut out, looking like he wanted nothing more than death. </p><p>Going back to his snapchat messages, he stared at the ‘say hi to yangyang!’ icon, glancing at the bitmoji that somewhat resembled the guy in the video. ‘I’m sorry you have to deal with nomin’s gay asses’ Jisung typed out, returning to Jaemin’s story to see that he was in the final stretch. The next image was of Jeno and Yangyang’s organized dorm with the caption ‘finally done thank fuck’. </p><p>Following that image was a video of Jaemin, Jeno and Yangyang in the cafeteria, laughing at something one of the other people at the table said. </p><p>‘Nice to meet you dude’ the next caption read, with the @ of the person who was sitting with the three in the previous video. Jisung added ‘Lucas’ and then continued on to the last image, which was a picture of Jaemin holding Jeno’s hand, with Jeno staring unamused at the camera with tousled hair and glasses with the caption ‘bye best friend :(((‘. </p><p>Clicking off of Jaemin’s story, he went back to his messages to see a new one from Yangyang. ‘You don’t know the half of it’ the message read with an image of Jeno and Jaemin standing by Jaemin’s car, with Jeno hugging the life out of Jaemin, face buried in the crook of Jaemin’s neck. Jisung answered with a ‘classic nomin’ before clicking away, seeing as Yangyang left him on read. Honestly Jisung doesn’t blame him, he doesn’t expect him to carry a conversation when he was just some rando that snapped him about his roommate. </p><p>Going back to his messages, he clicked on Jeno’s, to see that Jeno had replied with ‘stfu i’m the bestest friend ever’ to which Jisung responded with ‘i’m about to ruin this whole man’s career’ with the image Yangyang sent him attached. ‘hugging people is normal weirdo 🙄’ Jeno responded. ‘not when you’re hugging him like he’s your husband going to war without the promise of returning alive or smth, dramatic ass’ Jisung shot back, not waiting for Jeno’s response. </p><p>His last message to check was Jaemin, who swiped up on his story with a ‘yeah jisung get your shit together’ with an image of Jisung staring lovingly at Chenle as he rambled on about something or other. Jisung responded with an emoji flipping Jaemin off when he got an incoming call from Chenle himself. Jisung rejected the call and ran downstairs, opening the door to see Chenle standing outside of it. </p><p>“I’m not wasting my limited data on answering your call when you’re right outside my door.” Jisung said, opening the door wider to let Chenle in.</p><p>“Wow, hello to you Jisung, glad to see my best friend greets me so kindly.” Chenle said, flopping down on the couch in Jisung’s living room. </p><p>“Hi Chenle, the best person in the world, the only person that can make me smile, my favorite friend ever, how are you doing today?” Jisung said exaggeratedly. </p><p>“I’m doing great thanks for asking.” Chenle said with a grin.</p><p>“Anyway, what do you want to do?” Jisung asked, flopping down on the couch next to Chenle.</p><p>“You invited me here without planning anything out?” Chenle deadpanned, bringing his legs up to rest in Jisung’s lap. </p><p>“You say that as if we ever know what we’re going to do when we randomly go to each other’s houses.” Jisung said, pinching Chenle’s calf in retaliation. </p><p>“True true, do you want to just watch a movie? I don’t feel like getting up.” Chenle said, reaching for the remote. </p><p>“M’kay.” Jisung said drowsily. </p><p>“How are you tired, it’s literally past noon.” Chenle said, flipping through hulu, trying to find something good. </p><p>“I’ve been going to sleep at like 7am for the past week but today I went to sleep at 11pm ish.” Jisung said, fighting back a yawn. </p><p>“Wow, your sleep schedule is so fucked.” Chenle said with a low whistle. </p><p>“Tell me something I don’t know.” Jisung said, reaching for Chenle’s hand to mindlessly play with his fingers. </p><p>“Sleepy Jisungie is just a clingy baby isn’t he?” Chenle crooned, petting Jisung’s hair softly. </p><p>Jisung shook his head to shrug off Chenle’s hand, fighting back a yawn once again. </p><p>“Sorry I invited you over when I’m so tired I swear I was fine like half an hour ago.”</p><p>“It’s okay, we don’t have to watch a movie, we can just talk until you fall asleep.” Chenle said, going back to petting Jisung’s hair. </p><p>Jisung let out a noncommittal hum, closing his eyes. </p><p>“I know I said I didn’t want to talk about it, but the ‘stuff’ I was referring to earlier was just me being stressed about the future, but looking at Jaemin’s story made me feel like I don’t have anything to worry about. As cheesy as it sounds, I know I’ll be okay as long as I have you, like how Jeno has Jaemin. I know Jeno was nervous about going to college and living on campus, but Jaemin made sure he felt comfortable there and I’m sure he’ll visit a lot. I know you’ll do the same for me so I feel less nervous about it.” Jisung vented, breaking the silence. </p><p>Chenle shifts his position, moving his legs to the floor and gently guiding Jisung’s head to rest against his shoulder, bringing Jisung’s hands around his waist before resuming his ministrations at the nape of Jisung’s neck. </p><p>“Of course I’ll always be there for you. Even if we don’t end up going to the same college like Jeno and Jaemin, I’ll always be a call away. I know for most people that’s an empty promise, but it’s not like that for us. I really think that no matter what we’ll always be a part of each other’s lives. We’re soulmates, platonically or romantically, it doesn’t matter to me, as long as I have you in my life.” Chenle says earnestly. </p><p>“Is this a confession?” Jisung asked with a quiet giggle. </p><p>“If you want it to be.” Chenle answers with a giggle of his own. “You don’t have to answer or anything. Like I said, I’m fine with being friends. All I need is you in my life.” </p><p>“Are you kidding? I’ve liked you since sophomore year, the only reason I didn’t tell you is because by the time I had gathered the confidence to do so I figured it was too late since we’ll be graduating. Rest assured I don’t feel that way anymore. It was kind of dumb to think that our bond would be broken by something as simple as graduating. I do like the idea of being a part of each other’s lives forever.” Jisung said with a shy grin. </p><p>“Is this a premature proposal?” Chenle joked. </p><p>“If you want it to be.” Jisung said, parroting Chenle’s previous words.</p><p>“Not to sound dramatic or anything, but you’re the love of my life of course I want it to be.” Chenle said with a soft smile, nuzzling his nose against Jisung’s. </p><p>“Can I kiss you?” Jisung asked, dipping his gaze to look at Chenle’s lips. </p><p>Chenle doesn’t respond, just leans in further and presses a light kiss to Jisung’s lips before pulling back slightly, opening his eyes to look at Jisung. </p><p>“You’re so perfect.” Chenle muttered, eyelashes fluttering against Jisung’s cheeks. </p><p>“And you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Jisung said, pulling Chenle in for another kiss. They kiss languidly, basking in each other’s presence. </p><p>“I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you,” Chenle said, breaking the kiss to press butterfly kisses all over Jisung’s face, making the latter giggle. </p><p>“I love you too.” Jisung whispers, kissing Chenle’s nose. </p><p>They lose track of time coddling each other, peacefully existing in the calm atmosphere they created, both purely in love with each other. They don’t notice as the front door to the house opens to reveal that Jisung’s family had returned from his little sister’s soccer game. </p><p>“Momma! Jisung’s kissing Chenle!” his sister shrieks, covering her eyes dramatically.</p><p>“I see that, honey.” Jisung’s mother said, coming back behind her. </p><p>That seems to bring Jisung and Chenle out of their own little world, both a bit nervous about how Jisung’s parents would react. </p><p>“Could you boys perhaps go to Jisung’s room if you’re going to continue with that? I promised Minji she could watch something on the TV when she got home.” Jisung’s mom said, hanging her keys on the key rack. </p><p>Chenle and Jisung were quiet for a moment. </p><p>“You’re not… shocked?” Jisung asked confusedly. </p><p>“Sweetie, I don’t think this comes as a shock to any of us. You could have told us sooner.” Jisung’s mom said, “Even though you never told me, I kind of always knew. I understand why you might have felt scared to tell us but you can trust me. You can trust us. Right, Darling?” Jisung’s mom said, looking over at her husband. </p><p>“Of course. Jisung, we love you, we love Chenle, we love both of you just as much as you love each other. Chenle’s practically family already, this just makes us one step closer to getting there.” Jisung’s dad said with a wink. </p><p>“Dad.” Jisung whined, covering his face in embarrassment. “We haven’t even been like, together for that long, I mean, Are we boyfriends? We never really established that.” Jisung asked, turning to Chenle.</p><p>“Yes, we’re boyfriends.” Chenle said with a smile, kissing Jisung’s open palm.  </p><p>“I can’t believe you’re dating Jisung, Chenle. You could do so much better than him.” Minji chirped in. </p><p>“Shut up Minji, you’re literally seven, what do you know about romance?” Jisung shot back. </p><p>“More than you.” Minji said, sticking her tongue out at her brother. </p><p>“She’s probably right.” Chenle said with a snicker.</p><p>“You’re supposed to be on my side!” Jisung said, staring at Chenle, appalled. </p><p>Everyone in the room starts laughing at that. Jisung watches fondly as Chenle’s smile widens as he lets out a joyous laugh. And perhaps Jisung is still lost, but this time he’s lost in Chenle’s eyes.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so this is kind of all over the place as you can tell; i hope you enjoyed it though!! leave a comment if you want, feedback is always appreciated!<br/>this fic is very loosely based on 'be okay' by hrvy and r3hab, hence it's the title of the fic<br/>also idk if the emojis showed up correctly on all devices but i promise you jisung uses them ironically. not too sure about nomin though....</p></blockquote></div></div>
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